One Night
by GunBunnyCentral
Summary: Myka stared at the the items for several long moments, wondering if one night - however they chose to spend it - would be enough to clean up the mess she and Helena had found themselves mired in. (Holiday Fic)


Notes: My very first Bering & Wells fic ever - originally written for the Winter 2011 round of Shatterstorm Production's Femslash Advent Calendar.

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South Dakota winters were brutal, a little colder even than what Myka Bering was used to from growing up in Colorado Springs - not so much so, however, that anyone was really surprised to find Myka out on the porch of the bed and breakfast, bundled up against the weather.

If the cold didn't bother you, the view from the porch was actually quite lovely. White snow covered everything in sight, making the world somehow seem so much calmer and happier than any Warehouse agent knew it to actually be.

There wasn't much of a view after dark, though, which was the main reason that anyone's presence on the porch at night was unusual. In Myka's case, braving the freezing temperatures after nightfall with no visual incentive generally signified that something was weighing on her that required solitude to think through.

It wasn't that she was unhappy, as such - by and large, her life was in as close to perfect order as it was going to get, and she was quite content with it - but every so often, especially around the holidays, a certain underlying melancholy set in at odd moments that drove her to seek the only real isolation available to her to work herself past it before anyone got worried. Her loved ones understood this, and did their best to give her space even as they attempted to cheer her up.

This time, at least, there was an identifiable reason for her melancholy - not that that actually made it any easier to cope with.

It had started with the early Christmas present from her father. The normally reserved man had been going out of his way to reconnect with his daughter, and had sent Myka a box full of her favorite books as an early holiday gift - he'd had no way to know that the gorgeously bound old volume of HG Wells' collected works he'd included would mean anything more than the others in the package, or that it would cause his daughter pain.

Finding it in the box full of books had hit Myka like a punch to the chest, so much so that it had taken Leena and Pete both to calm her down - Artie, Claudia, and Steve had been out at the time, thankfully, and she'd insisted that no one worry them by telling them how she'd broken down when it was long past the point where they could have helped.

She had a feeling that they'd been told anyway once they'd returned, but understood that her wishes would still be respected by allowing her the illusion of privacy for as long as was possible. It was how her peculiar new family worked, and she didn't really mind it.

It helped that they all also went out of their way to respect her wishes by giving her plenty space to sort things out on her own, while simultaneously making it clear that they would be there for her the second she needed them. Every single one of them knew - or at least suspected - how deeply Helena Wells' betrayal had wounded her and why, even if none of them had confronted Myka about it directly.

The hurt had been salved a little by Myka's conviction that the whole Minoan Trident fiasco had been Helena's desperate cry for help - and by the fact that Helena seemed to be slowly coming back to herself as the Regents worked with her.

The problem was that the situation had offered no room for any sort of closure. The fallout from Myka's ill-conceived but short-lived resignation made Helena Wells a thorny issue at best around the Warehouse, and her direct contact with Helena was so limited and controlled that they'd never be able to speak freely to each other without fear of everything they said being monitored and dissected afterward by the Regents.

So, instead, Myka had made herself start reading through the HG Wells volume in what she hoped was secret, hearing Helena's voice in every word, and finding that it actually helped soothe her sadness even if it did nothing at all for her confusion. The passion and creativity that flowed through those words was the Helena that she knew in her gut was just waiting to surface again, currently buried under all the pain and trauma and just needing a way to rise above it.

Too bad it was so hard to convince everyone else of that...

Myka let out a sigh and clutched the book tighter, staring out into nothing as she vaguely registered the sound of the porch door opening.

"Heya Mykes," Pete said by way of greeting, exuding his usual cheerfulness as he came to stand beside her. Myka basked in that cheerfulness as he put a hand on her shoulder, completely unsurprised that he'd been the one to seek her out.

Pete, sensing her willingness and need to be comforted, moved behind her and pulled her into a hug, ever the brother she'd never had. "Claudia and I wanted to talk to you for a sec, if you're up for it."

"It's not work-related, I promise," Claudia added, joining the conversation. "At least, not completely - it involves artifacts, but not in the bag, snag, and tag sense."

Myka didn't get vibes like Pete, or have Leena's ability to read auras, but even she could pick up on a certain conspiratorial glee running between her two friends - accompanied with a certain underlying nervousness that made her wonder just what Claudia and Pete had gotten up to.

Finding a sudden resurgence of good mood in their company that pulled her from her melancholy thoughts, Myka turned to survey them both with a small if genuine smile. "How much is Artie going to yell at me just for hearing you two out?"

The grin that Pete and Claudia shared in response told her all she needed to know, and she looked up as if appealing to the heavens for patience. "Fine. Tell me."

"Actually," Claudia said, "we kinda cleared this one with Mrs. Frederick. I told her we needed you to help us test out one of my new gizmos and Artie was being his usual grumpus self about it - I just kinda left a few things out of my description."

Pete was about to jump into the conversation again, and Myka curtailed any chance of him talking over Claudia by holding up both hands in a gesture for silence. "Just tell me what you did and why I'm going to risk helping the two of you."

Claudia's face lit up with pride as her eyes took on a mischievous twinkle. "I found a way to make the projection from the Regents' holosphere doohickey go solid. Better than that, even - it'd be like the hologram was a real physical person!"

Myka's brain spun into freefall, struggling to understand what her friends were getting at and denying the only answers she could think of.

She got yanked back down to earth when Pete put a hand on her arm, his tone unexpectedly gentle and free of any hint of teasing. "Think about it, Mykes - you could touch her."

Not knowing what else to do, Myka resorted to her old standby, retreating behind a mask of righteous indignation as she yanked her arm out of Pete's grip. "Why - why would you even say that to me?! Do you have any idea -?"

She cut herself off before she finished the statement, but all three of them still knew what she'd been about to say, and Pete aimed right for the vulnerability it revealed.

"Chill out, Mykes," he told her. "We all know you're into HG, and none of us care what side you bat for - Steve kinda proves that. What we care about is that leaving things just hanging between you and HG is hurting you."

Claudia stepped into the breach as Myka just stood there glaring at Pete. "He's right, Myka. You need to fix things with HG - the Regents will make her better and then you two will be so awesome together."

There was a pleading note to Claudia's voice that Myka couldn't ignore. The younger woman looked up to her - had looked up to Helena, too - and had been through enough in her short life to feel a real need to believe that things between the two women she idolized could be set right, that her family could somehow be restored again.

It was enough to make Myka's resolve waver, especially with Pete looking just as earnest as Claudia in his own way. When it came down to it, Pete needed exactly the same reassurance as Claudia that his family wasn't going to fall apart again, and she couldn't fight them both.

Pete seemed to sense her reluctance. "It's weird as hell, I know, and I'm probably the last person you'd expect to want you to have anything to do with HG Wells, but my gut says it's the right thing to do even if you two just sit and talk things out."

"It's almost Christmas," Claudia added, pleading, "you can't just let her sit there alone in whatever prison they took her to!"

Myka raised both hands again, this time in mock surrender. "Fine! I'll think it over - no promises though."

Pete and Claudia exchanged a look that made Myka roll her eyes in exasperation. "What now?"

Claudia chewed at her lower lip. "This is kind of a limited-time offer."

Pete continued her explanation for her. "If you want privacy to talk to HG - or whatever you two decide to do - it's gotta be tonight while everyone is gone. If the Regents figure out what Claudia actually did here, they'll shut it all down and probably never let her try again."

"I doubt that," Claudia scoffed, "my idea is just too awesome. But they'd never let you get near HG with it, even with my failsafes."

Myka blinked a little at that. "Failsafes?"

Claudia just grinned. "The Regents are gonna be pissed about this no matter what, but they'd be extra pissed if something went sideways and HG got loose and took off with the tech to make herself solid. So only you can activate the prototype, and the power source is a non-rechargeable energy cell that's only good for about 14 hours."

"We might not always follow the rulebook," Pete said with his own grin, "but we're not crazy - or dumb. This makes sure HG can't pull anything, which buys us some breathing room with the Regents if they kick up a fuss."

"I'm hoping that they'll be so awed by my sheer genius that they can't get upset," Claudia added. "This could be really useful if we can prove it works and is safe - it might even give HG a chance to prove that she's okay now so they'll let her out."

The young inventor glowed with professional pride for a long moment, then seemed to remember what she'd meant to say to start with. "Oh, yeah - if the Regents start bitching at us, this is all on me and Pete. We told you whatever you needed to hear to think it was okay to try this out, and that we got permission for you to talk to HG - for the good of the team or whatever."

Pete nodded in agreement, and Myka couldn't help a grin of her own. She'd never let them take the blame alone, of course, no matter how much they insisted, but she truly appreciated everything they were trying to do for her.

"I'll talk to Helena tonight," Myka told them. "I should have tried a long time ago, but I didn't think there was any way to."

"Yes!" Claudia crowed, doing an impromptu little dance. "I know you guys can work thing out - I can make a more permanent version of all this if you do!"

Pete, a lot less sour on the whole HG Wells thing since the recent Joshua's Trumpet case, just waggled his eyebrows at Myka in his usual fashion. "We'll both be gone too, so don't worry about being quiet on our account."

Myka resisted the urge to stick her tongue out at him, settling instead for rolling her eyes even as she smiled. "I know what you're really trying to do, and I appreciate it."

She gave her surrogate brother a hug then, pausing for a second as they broke apart. "And Pete? So not giving you any details if anything does happen."

There was a final round of laughter and hugs all around before they all went back inside, Pete and Claudia finally leaving her alone with the holosphere and Claudia's prototype solidifier.

Myka stared at the the items for several long moments, wondering if one night - however they chose to spend it - would be enough to clean up the mess she and Helena had found themselves mired in. It didn't really matter in the end, she decided - the attempt had to be made.

It took her another two hours to calm her nerves to the point where she felt ready to summon Helena - two hours spent in typical anxious Myka fashion. She made herself a small dinner - no one had indicated Helena would be able to eat with her - then tidied up her already neat room before taking a shower.

She decided on a simple t-shirt and jeans, something neutral enough that still let her look good no matter what happened that night, and lit a few candles to make her room seem as warm and comfortable as possible. The candles combined with the holiday decorations in her room nicely, creating an ambiance that could either be cozy, romantic, or both as desired.

Initially, she'd worried that summoning Helena to her bedroom would give the wrong impression, but her bedroom was the only place that gave her the feelings of security and privacy she needed to face the coming conversation.

But finally, after those two hours, she felt ready to face Helena - in fact, she was even looking forward to it by that point.

"Hello, Helena." Myka's smile when Helena appeared in front of her was genuine, and Helena smiled back in that way she seemed to reserve for Myka alone.

"Hello yourself, beautiful," Helena responded as she looked around the room, her British accent sending the same thrill through Myka that it always did. "What's all this?"

A sudden wave of shyness came over Myka. "Pete and Claudia managed to arrange it so that we could finally talk without our every word being monitored. Also, it's nearly Christmas - I guess I just thought..."

"Is it really Christmas already?" Something unreadable flickered across Helena's gaze, and her hand went to her throat, searching out the locket there like she always did when anxious. "Time moves...strangely in here."

Myka swallowed past the sudden lump in her throat. "After how well things went with the Joshua's Trumpet case, I was kind of hoping we might finally be in a place to try and fix things between us. I... miss you, Helena."

Those dark eyes of Helena's just bored into Myka, filled with the same dangerous spark of want they always had in Myka's presence. "I've missed you too, Myka. I just wish I had the magic words to set everything right again - I am so, so sorry, for everything..."

She reached out for Myka's face, despite knowing she could never actually make contact, then stumbled back a step in wide-eyed shock as her hand actually caressed Myka's cheek rather than simply passing through it.

After a moment, though, she just grinned. "Claudia."

It wasn't a question so much as a statement, but Myka still nodded in acknowledgment. "She made some kind of device that makes your hologram solid - she said it was so you could be more effective in the field and get assigned more missions with us. For all intents and purposes, it's like having your body back."

The grin widened as Helena stepped closer to Myka. "I knew there was a reason I liked that girl."

Then she pulled Myka in for a kiss, and all thought of talking disappeared for several long minutes.

Myka, though not any stranger to kissing, couldn't recall having ever been kissed like that before - by anyone. The idea that she was in fact kissing another woman for the first time never registered, only the feel of Helena's mouth on hers, Helena's tongue teasing hers as it probed her mouth.

It felt *right* to be kissing Helena finally, in exactly the same way it felt right to have Helena's hands at her breasts, tracing their contours and grazing over her nipples through her bra and shirt.

Instinctively, her own hands went to Helena's breasts, mirroring what was being done to her as she answered a thousand idle questions she'd never admitted to having. Questions that had only become more and more frequent since Helena had entered her life...

When they finally parted, they were both breathing heavily, and not just from lack of oxygen.

"Very much like having my body back," Helena finally said, a certain shakiness in her voice belying her feigned nonchalance. "Myka, I..."

Words failed Helena for possibly the first time ever since Myka had met her. Myka wasn't sure what to say either - surely they needed to actually sit and talk about everything between them before they just started groping each other.

That had been the whole point of this exercise after all, right?

The silence seemed to stretch on forever as the two women just watched each other. Finally, Myka realized that Helena's missing words in fact needed to come from her, and that any words after those would be superfluous.

"Make love to me, Helena," Myka said finally. "Please."

Helena stared at her for a long moment. "Are you sure about this, Myka? I know you've never been with another woman before."

Myka nodded. "I think I've wanted this since the moment you saved me with that damned grappling hook of yours. Hanging in the air above the street, pressed up against you..."

She shuddered a little at the memory of everything that had rushed through her at that moment. "I thought we needed to talk, go over it all until things were right between us again, but I was wrong. We've said everything there is to say with words alone - I've forgiven us both already, a long time ago it seems, and now I need you to know that I still trust you."

That was all the encouragement Helena needed.

"I'll try to take it slow and gentle," she purred with an amused glint in her eye, "but I can't make any promises. You're enough to test the self-control of a saint, Myka Bering."

Myka shuddered again, Helena's voice and words cutting right to her core. "Slow, fast, I don't care. Just touch me again."

Helena smirked at Myka, pausing only long enough to help the younger woman remove her shirt and bra. Myka didn't even have time to feel awkward standing there half-dressed before Helena was kissing her again, hands gliding expertly over her naked breasts.

Then Helena lowered her mouth to one nipple, and Myka couldn't help moaning at the heat and suction as her lover switched from one breast to another.

She whimpered a little as Helena pulled away, then scrambled to help as she realized Helena was trying to get her out of her jeans and panties.

Helena chuckled at Myka's eagerness, then stepped back to get a long look at Myka's naked body. "Has anyone ever told you how beautiful you are?"

Myka, feeling unaccountably bashful all of a sudden, just shook her head as she caught her lower lip in her teeth.

Helena chuckled again and stepped closer. "Hold on to me, love - I suspect you'll be a bit wobbly once I'm done."

Myka put her arms around Helena's neck as directed, resting her head on Helena's shoulder. Some part of her mind dimly noticed that Helena was still fully clothed, but got quickly sidetracked as Helena slid a hand up the inside of one thigh.

She paused to cup Myka's sex for a moment, before using those long, agile fingers to trace and part Myka's inner lips. Myka bucked in Helena's arms as those fingers slid over her clit, and Helena just chuckled again.

"You're almost ready to pop, darling," Helena observed dryly. "But no matter - we've got all night. and it might be best to take that edge off anyway."

With that, she thrust two fingers inside Myka, sliding in and out as hard and fast as she could while her thumb toyed with Myka's clit.

Myka held on for as long as she could, then came so hard the whole room went white. It took her a few minutes to find her way back to herself, but the underlying awareness that Helena was there holding her had the same rightness as everything else had so far.

The bashfulness returned as Myka pulled away a little to look at Helena, realizing how completely inexperienced she must seem compared to Helena's cool worldliness.

Helena just tilted Myka's chin up. "Never apologize for your passions, darling. That was absolutely lovely and breathtakingly honest."

Myka grinned despite herself. "But you haven't - I mean..."

Helena just chuckled again, reaching up to begin unbuttoning her shirt. "We have hours and hours yet."

They put those hours to good use - Myka figured that she had learned more from Helena in those few hours about how to please a woman than all of her male lovers had managed to teach her about pleasing men after years of dating, and she made sure that Helena was repaid in full for the pleasure she'd given.

Finally, though, Myka just couldn't stay awake any longer and Helena told her to get some sleep as she settled them both under the covers.

Helena woke her with a kiss a short while later. "Happy Christmas, darling. How do you feel?"

Myka stretched and smiled, obviously feeling quite good, then noticed the time. "It's almost time for you to go..."

Helena smiled at her. "It's alright - I'm content for now. We'll see each other again soon - you did say Claudia promised to help with that."

They just lay there tangled together as those last few moments went by, content just to be near each other and honestly hopeful that this was the end of the beginning, rather than just the end.

Even hours after Helena had had to return to her cell - or whatever it was - her parting words still echoed happily in Myka's ears.

"Whatever happens - however this turns out - I want you to remember something for me. I love you, Myka Bering..."


End file.
